Cyberspace was being consumed by an acute philosophical debate on Friday over a picture of a dress many claim is obviously white and gold but others argue just as trenchantly is black and blue.

The hashtag #TheDress led trends on Twitter worldwide, boosted by a stream of tweets from celebrities voicing support for either of the opposing camps.

“From this day on, the world will be divided into two people. Blue & black, or white & gold,” U.S. comedian Ellen DeGeneres tweeted.

The picture of the dress was uploaded on image-sharing website Tumblr by a user named “swiked” on Wednesday. But it wasn’t until Internet news company Buzzfeed asked for reader opinions on Thursday that the dialectic got going.